The proposed conference on the molecular mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis and host defense will convene 300 - 400 international scientists who approach the study of infectious disease from the perspectives of molecular microbiology, eukaryotic cell biology, and immunology. The advent of this new meeting comes at a critical time as emerging microbial diseases have once again taken an important central role in health care issues worldwide. The meeting format is designed to provide an in depth focus on the approaches that are being used to elucidate the mechanisms of pathogenesis used by representative microorganisms, and to promote the application of these concepts to emerging diseases that are not as well characterized. The focus will be on bacterial and fungal pathogens with sessions centered around a selection of representative pathogenic strategies. The meeting will include oral and poster sessions, and a genomics workshop. The oral seesions will each include a keynote address by an established leader in the field, two additional full length talks chosen to ensure broad coverage of the microbial and host aspects of pathogenesis, and several shorter talks from younger promising investigators doing work related to the major focus of each particular session. The inclusion of two poster sessions as well as the allowance of ample time for questions following each talk will encourage discussion between the participants. Through the use of this format, and the conference venue, this meeting should promote new multidisciplinary interactions that can achieve breakthrough approaches that might not otherwise be possible utilizing isolated efforts of individual laboratories.